I recently blew the main 100A DC/DC fusible link (long story), but have confirmed no further damage by temporarily bridging the gap in the shot fuse with an alligator clip. I'm driving it straight to the dealer tomorrow morning to have the fusible link assembly replaced. Question: If I drive right into their service bay, pop the hood and pull my clip out, are they likely to threaten any part of the warranty? Thanks!
Please tell us how you blew this fusible link? I don't mind a long story plus I think driving into the dealer they are going to want to know the same. Just curious
Your service will be recorded by the Toyota dealer. If something on this circuit fails in the future your warranty may be denied. It won't effect other unrelated potential warranty claims. I'm also curious how you popped the fusable link. Unless you solved the problem before you jumped the circuit with the alligator clips you may have damaged something else further into the circuit. The link popped for a reason it needs to be fixed.
if you damage something on the way, you're definitely on the hook for it. if it were us (DH being a former prius tech) we would call a tow truck. as far as future inverter problems, this would give them ammo to deny you warranty coverage.
Here's the thread describing how the fuse was blown: http://priuschat.com/forums/care-maintenance-troubleshooting/56202-cant-jumpstart-help.html I'm confident the car is fine (and besides, the fuse is bridged in such a way that if it needed to blow again, it would), but it makes sense they would mark the info down and save it for later! Thanks everyone!
Dealers don't just record service visits that could void warranties they record all of them. This can be very helpful if you are buying a used car and want to know if the required maintenance has been done.
Why not rig up a temporary 100A fuse instead of using an alligator clip? That way, the circuit is still protected and they can't say that you had bypassed the protection provided by the fuse. BTW, from a EE background, DON'T BYPASS FUSES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!! THEY ARE THERE FOR A REASON
The alligator clip only bridged the gap in the fuse, so most of the fuse arm was still intact - another section of the fuse would blow if need be. Anyway, I only kept the clip on there long enough to back it out of the garage and turn it around for the tow truck
Tow, baby, tow. If you had popped the fuse on a remote camping expedition (like with an outboard inverter) a jumper wire to get you back to civilization would be OK. Then you remove it, and Toyota doesn't use it against you.
Peaquod-san, my name is Hiroko Toyogaga. Master computer has already been warned of your shennanigans, we are waiting for you. Boo-ah-ha-ha not
Hi Peaquod, It was a very clever idea to bridge the gap in the fuse link with the alligator clip. As you pointed out, other portions of the link remained available to protect the circuit. Since the temp fix allowed the Prius to become READY, I'm not sure why you felt the need to tow the car. Regarding warranty coverage or lack of same, this will be an issue only if your inverter fails in the future. Assuming you didn't botch the jump polarity, you should not have to worry about a failed inverter. Regarding replacement of the fusible link box, I had previously seen another poster share her experiences about what was required to do so. This sounds like a fairly difficult task so it is reasonable for you to entrust that to your dealer's tech.
One hopes that you'll eventually tell the whole story, because I'll bet it's entertaining and could be a lesson to all! . _H*
Hi Hobbit, Post #5 provides a link to the story. Basically the 12V battery died, the OP did not fully recharge it, it died again, and finally the DC/DC fuse link blew. The OP's hypothesis is that the battery had a bad cell (or maybe two) causing excess current to flow from the inverter to the failed battery. This is a reasonable scenario. A good reason not to mess around tolerating a weak or failed 12V battery especially in winter weather, but instead install a new one immediately given any signs of pending failure - like weak passenger cabin lighting, weird Prius behavior, etc.
